Jump to content

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 3.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted

Sauce for the gander.

That's the funny thing about winning championships. As soon as you have one, no one cares. You just suck for falling short.

I want to see Toronto get back into being a contending team. That will enhance the rivalry between Buffalo and Toronto. Although right now from a league-wide hockey standpoint the games might be intense they have little meaning to them. In general, I think the NHL is bolstered with good Canadian teams.

 

The hockey media coverage in Toronto is so intense that it falsely led the Toronto organization to believe that their market wouldn't tolerate a total rebuild. So they ended up muddling along for a generation instead of doing the dirty work of a serious rebuild that would have gotten them back into contention sooner. Toronto, as like Buffalo, is committed to a total rebuild. That is the right approach to take. The advantage we have is that we started the process a couple of years sooner with our efforts now starting to bear fruit.

Posted (edited)

I want to see Toronto get back into being a contending team. That will enhance the rivalry between Buffalo and Toronto. Although right now from a league-wide hockey standpoint the games might be intense they have little meaning to them. In general, I think the NHL is bolstered with good Canadian teams.

 

The hockey media coverage in Toronto is so intense that it falsely led the Toronto organization to believe that their market wouldn't tolerate a total rebuild. So they ended up muddling along for a generation instead of doing the dirty work of a serious rebuild that would have gotten them back into contention sooner. Toronto, as like Buffalo, is committed to a total rebuild. That is the right approach to take. The advantage we have is that we started the process a couple of years sooner with our efforts now starting to bear fruit.

The Leafs are loaded with young talent now (and draft picks) if they get a top 3 pick this year they will be well on their way!

Edited by thebug
Posted

CfrmdyjWQAADTGd.jpg

 

Toronto media were killing the Sabres for the last two seasons for the tank.

As a Leafs fan, I had no problem with what the Sabres did the last 2 seasons, but cheering the over-time goal against was too far IMO.

Posted

The Leafs are loaded with young talent now (and draft picks) if they get a top 3 pick this year they will be well on their way!

The Leafs have done everything right in the past year or so. The first step was to get rid of their high contract veteran talent and get as much as possible for them. They did that in rather short order. The next step is to get an infusion of young talent and then develop it. That is what they are doing.

 

Mike Babock is not a soft or enabling coach. He is going to hold even the young talent accountable and make them earn their playing time. They, as the Sabres do, have a master rebuilding plan, and they will adhere to it. Everyone in the organization, including the ownership, know what they are in on and all are bought in.

 

I'm a Sabres fan. But that doesn't mean that I root against the Leafs. As a hockey fan I want the Leafs and the Canadiens to do well because it is good for the game.

Posted (edited)

To be fair, so was the Buffalo media.

I don't see it the same way as you do. Most of the personalities on WGR were in full throttle support for the tank job. And that negative encouragement lasted for two full years. The Buffalo News coverage was tame in its criticism of the Sabres over that deconstruction period compared to how the tenor of the response would have been in other hockey markets. From my vantage point everyone was aware of what was being done in Buffalo and most were in agreement as to what needed to be done. Most isn't certainly everyone but the consensus sentiment was slog on and do what you have to do to get back to respectability.

 

Edited by JohnC
Posted

That's the funny thing about winning championships. As soon as you have one, no one cares. You just suck for falling short.

Victory is fleeting.

 

 

"For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting."

 

-George S. Patton Jr.

Posted

 

A couple of them were. Notably it was Harrington.

 

And Bucky. But Harrington was the most surprising since he actually knows something about hockey; it was odd how he seemed offended by the situation.

 

All in the past now, however.

Posted

 

I don't see it the same way as you do. Most of the personalities on WGR were in full throttle support for the tank job. And that negative encouragement lasted for two full years. The Buffalo News coverage was tame in its criticism of the Sabres over that deconstruction period compared to how the tenor of the response would have been in other hockey markets. From my vantage point everyone was aware of what was being done in Buffalo and most were in agreement as to what needed to be done. Most isn't certainly everyone but the consensus sentiment was slog on and do what you have to do to get back to respectability.

 

In hockey it's the only tried and true way to do a full rebuild. There is an established pattern

 

Get rid of aging veterans for futures

Get rid of big contracts

Get rid of under performers/and guys who don't fit

Draft high end players

Sign the right free agents

Start the road back to respectability

Posted

Thanks for posting. I enjoyed listening to many of them and the guys seem, to a man, convinced that next year will be a playoff year.

 

Sadly, the Ryan O'Reilly interview is missing- it's actually a repeat of the Lehner interview. Would love to hear Ryan's take on the season and the future.

Posted

@NHLFlyers

Together with Comcast Spectacor, we mourn the loss of Chairman and Founder Ed Snider → http://bit.ly/1qJrLif

CfwqJ3tUEAARxcc.jpg

 

R.I.P.


Thanks for posting. I enjoyed listening to many of them and the guys seem, to a man, convinced that next year will be a playoff year.

Sadly, the Ryan O'Reilly interview is missing- it's actually a repeat of the Lehner interview. Would love to hear Ryan's take on the season and the future.

 

@BuffaloSabres

1f3a5.png Ryan O'Reilly's comments on the 2015-16 season: http://bufsabres.co/1ULstC

CftoKdOWIAQ-UZh.jpg

 

×
×
  • Create New...